From 1998 through 2002, Mike Moffat enjoyed a successful partnership with Grant Albrecht in doubles luge racing. The pair was an immediate force in the junior ranks, winning silver in the doubles at the World Junior Championships during the 1998-99 season, and a bronze during the 1999-00 season.

Unfortunately, their transition to the senior ranks over the following couple of seasons didn't go smoothly. With the sport enjoying a much higher profile in Europe, Albrecht and Moffat found it difficult to compete against their better funded and more professionally trained counterparts from across the Atlantic.

In 2002, despite placing 12th in the doubles at the Salt Lake City Games, Moffat joined his older brother, Chris, who had been racing with Eric Pothier, in a decision to leave the sport (reportedly over a difference of opinion with the team's former coach). Over the subsequent three years, the younger Moffat would pursue a bachelor of justice degree and his certification in forensic sciences, while working as a contract parole officer in Calgary.

After three years away from the sport, the brothers decided in 2005 to give luge another shot. And although they had never raced together before, the two pooled their finances and formed a team. Amazingly, in their first World Cup race last November, they shocked the field, finishing in sixth-place. The success was even more meaningful considering it occurred on the Olympic course in Turin.

With two more World Cup Top-10's behind them, the sizzling tandem now heads to Italy as a solid bet to win a medal.